In this video I sing “Your Song” by Elton John and play backup on the fiddle. Then after the performance I explain what I did.
I’ve been learning to sing songs and play backup on the fiddle. Here are some tips I’ve picked up:
Practice just singing
Just like learning a fiddle tune, I’ve been focusing on single lines and even single words. By doing this in depth work to learn how to sing the song, I naturally end up memorizing the lyrics. Another tip for memorizing lyrics: speak them. Then alternate between speaking and singing the lines.
Just practice the chords
I recommend practicing single chords, and then two-chord transitions.
Integrating vocals and backup
Once you’ve learned each part separately, alternate between just singing and just playing the chords for single lines. I call this a Practice Loop. After that, try to sing and play at the same time.
If it’s still hard, then try shortening the vocal part. So instead of “It’s a little bit funny,” sing just “It’s.” If you take this micro-practice approach, you’ll eventually be able to play and sing.
Chord backup
I used long notes for the verses and the hoedown pattern for the chorus. Here are the chords:
Verse
D /G /A /F#m
Bm / Bm-A/Bm-G#/G
D /A /F#m /Bm
D /Em7 /G /D
Chorus
A / Bm /Em /G
A / Bm /Em /G
Bm / Bm-A/Bm-G#/G
D /Em7 /G /D
This is the way guitarists usually read chords. For that reason, it would be good for you to get comfortable reading this too.
Here are chords written out. I didn’t write out the hoedown rhythm I added to the chorus.
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Wow 🤩
Playing on songs is a high water mark in the Fiddlehed program. This is the best explanation of playing along with a song ever!!!
This was so interesting Jason, I learnt a lot from you explaining your creative process. The listening, finding the triads for the intro, chord back up rhythms, descending bass line, slides. All the building blocks we can play with to make a song backing. Thanks for another great lesson!